Weather Radar Observations

This book reviews the principles of Doppler radar and emphasizes the quantitative measurement of meteorological parameters. It illustrates the relation of Doppler radar data and images to atmospherix phenomena such as tornados, microbursts, waves, turbulence, density currents, hurricanes, and lightning. Radar images and photographs of these weather phenomena are included. Polarimetric measurements and data processing An updated section on RASS Wind profilers Observations with the WSR-88D An updated treatment of lightning Turbulence in the planetary boundary layer A short history of radar Chapter problem sets

Doppler radar systems have been instrumental to improve our understanding and monitoring capabilities of phenomena taking place in the low, middle, and upper atmosphere. Weather radars, wind profilers, and incoherent and coherent scatter radars implementing Doppler techniques are now used routinely both in research and operational applications by scientists and practitioners. This book brings together a collection of eighteen essays by international leading authors devoted to different applications of ground based Doppler radars. Topics covered include, among others, severe weather surveillance, precipitation estimation and nowcasting, wind and turbulence retrievals, ionospheric radar and volcanological applications of Doppler radar. The book is ideally suited for graduate students looking for an introduction to the field or professionals intending to refresh or update their knowledge on Doppler radar applications.

With their images practically ubiquitious in the daily media, weather radar systems provide data not only for understanding weather systems and improving forecasts (especially critical for severe weather), but also for hydrological applications, flood warnings and climate research in which ground verification is needed for global precipitation measurements by satellites. This book offers an accessible overview of advanced methods, applications and modern research from the European perspective. An extensive introductory chapter summarizes the principles of weather radars and discusses the potential of modern radar systems, including Doppler and polarisation techniques, data processing, and error-correction methods. Addressing both specialist researchers and nonspecialists from related areas, this book will also be useful for graduate students planning to specialize in this field

This monograph offers a wide array of contemporary information on weather radar polarimetry and its applications. The book tightly connects the microphysical processes responsible for the development and evolution of the clouds’ bulk physical properties to the polarimetric variables, and contains the procedures on how to simulate realistic polarimetric variables. With up-to-date polarimetric methodologies and applications, the book will appeal to practicing radar meteorologists, hydrologists, microphysicists, and modelers who are interested in the bulk properties of hydrometeors and quantification of these with the goals to improve precipitation measurements, understanding of precipitation processes, or model forecasts.